AGENDA

19 > 28/10/2017

• thu 19
• fri 20
• sat 21
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• mon 23
• tue 24
• wed 25
• thu 26
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• sat 28

mon 23

• Debate 18:00
• film 19:00
• Debate 19:15
• Theatre 20:15
• Debate 20:30
• film 21:45

Festival des Libertés Grand Prize: “A critical film about an essential topic. At a time when there is a tendency towards isolationism in both Belgium and Europe, it’s considered good form to hide behind the saying that ‘we can’t welcome all the tired and weary of the world’. Born in Syria focuses on children who cross the sea and then all of Europe in search of a decent life and reminds us in a shocking way that behind dry statistics, each migration is a unique journey, even in the middle of a crowd. It’s a film everyone should see to help us get back on the path to hospitality.”

RTBF Award: “Yet another film about Syrian emigration... That’s the feeling one may have when the first images appear. What more could I learn about this humanitarian tragedy that I didn’t already know? And then, these children’s voices emerge. They cross each other’s paths, on the roads, in train stations, in the camps and behind barbed wire. And the camera stays at their eye level. This candour and maturity, already evocative of a childhood left behind. They ask adult questions, which have no answers. Their fates go off in many directions. Their wanderings end well, or not so well, or are still in limbo. The strength of this documentary needs no commentary. It is difficult to remain unmoved by such an evocation, by means of images and sounds alone, with a tone far removed from any ideology, from any discourse, debate or arguments ‘for’ or ‘against’. Here, the question isn’t about asking questions. The film speaks directly to the heart, without noise, without any tricks up its sleeve. It’s relentless, raw, alive, implacable in its truth and profoundly human.”

IFHR Award “Born in Syria is much more than a remarkable documentary about Syrian refugees. The film-maker makes a real humanitarian plea through the eyes of these children seeking a new life and leaving behind broken families and visions of horror. It’s through these children that the injustice and absurdity of war is perceived and experienced, along with the welcome they receive on their respective journeys in the voices of our politicians. Tones change, messages harden, and borders are draped with barbed wire. The film also shows us the support of people, anonymous citizens who do their best to help these refugees often in the face of an absurd bureaucracy. With this award, IFHR aims to foster the film’s appeal to our shared humanity and remind us that as active citizens, we have an important role to play in our democracies, by calling on politicians to take action. The growing isolationism of our European democracies is a danger for democracy itself and for all of us.”

Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands... Men, women, children and the elderly are fleeing war. They go through the worst adversity, and every time they think they’ve made it, another struggle appears. Their morbidity statistics defy all belief. This documentary penetrates the human reality of this journey through the lives of children.